María Matorra-Miguel

María Matorra-Miguel

orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

7Years (2020-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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21 September 2020 in Journal of Personalized Medicine
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
AMAdrián Montaño
Adrián Montaño
Jesús María Hernández-RivasJesús María Hernández-Rivas
Jesús María Hernández-Rivas
MFMaribel Forero-Castro
Maribel Forero-Castro
MMMaría Matorra-Miguel
María Matorra-Miguel
ELEva Lumbreras
Eva Lumbreras
RBRocio Benito
Rocio Benito
Background: B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) is a hematological neoplasm of the stem lymphoid cell of the B lineage, characterized by the presence of genetic alterations closely related to the course of the disease. The number of alterations identified in these patients grows as studies of the disease progress, but in clinical practice, the conventional techniques frequently used are only capable of detecting the most common alterations. However, techniques, such as next-generation sequencing (NGS), are being implemented to detect a wide spectrum of new alterations that also include point mutations. Methods: In this study, we designed and validated a comprehensive custom NGS panel to detect the main genetic alterations present in the disease in a single step. For this purpose, 75 B-ALL diagnosis samples from patients previously characterized by standard-of-care diagnostic techniques were sequenced. Results: The use of the custom NGS panel allowed the correct detection of the main genetic alterations present in B-ALL patients, including the presence of an aneuploid clone in 14 of the samples and some of the recurrent fusion genes in 35 of the samples. The panel was also able to successfully detect a number of secondary alterations, such as single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and copy number variations (CNVs) in 66 and 46 of the samples analyzed, respectively, allowing for further refinement of the stratification of patients. The custom NGS panel could also detect alterations with a high level of sensitivity and reproducibility when the findings obtained by NGS were compared with those obtained from other conventional techniques. Conclusions: The use of this custom NGS panel allows us to quickly and efficiently detect the main genetic alterations present in B-ALL patients in a single assay (SNVs and insertions/deletions (INDELs), recurrent fusion genes, CNVs, aneuploidies, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with pharmacogenetics). The application of this panel would thus allow us to speed up and simplify the molecular diagnosis of patients, helping patient stratification and management.